Interview w/ Peach Kelli Pop

Peach Kelli Pop’s unshakable popgun of harmonization represents the wave frosted shores and sun-flecked palm trees of Los Angeles. The bursts of rad vocals, candied guitars, and frenetic drums present a kaleidoscopic fever dream of California that few other bands can channel. Allie Hanlon’s voice is resolutely cool, her presentation an onomatopoeia of radness – and if you’ve seen her Q&A on BRGRTV, you know she gives a great and unpretentious interview. We managed to bother Peach Kelli Pop in the middle of their mammoth tour to ask them a few questions about honesty in content, Mary Pickford, and sunglasses.

Rob Patrick: From the band’s music videos to website layout, there is a stylistic sincerity about your presentation. There is an openness to Peach Kelli Pop – from the candid anecdotes in blog posts to the band’s lyrics – that reveals a lot to your fans. Is that something you always wanted them to have access to?

Allie Hanlon: I think people respond to sincerity and openness. Those qualities create the opportunity for people to relate to the music and the band as people which makes for more of an inclusive and less judgement atmosphere. It is important to me to make everyone feel welcome at our shows which I think makes for more of a positive experience for everyone.

The band has the best online store ever. From incredible shirts to rad lapel pins, there’s basically an endless array of aesthetically cool merchandise. Where many bands would stop at a simple tee, Peach Kelli Pop threw the gauntlet down with a myriad of choices. What was behind this decision?

A small clothing company in Los Angeles called Mowgli Surf offered to help create and produce merch for us. It’s been a really important change for the band… People love merch and now we have high quality shirts and accessories to sell that are made in the USA, and that will last longer and look better than the crappy Gildan shirts we sold before. Philip and his brother Alex, as well as Alex’s girlfriend Julie Pinzur (who has her own apparel company – Mokuyobi) have helped us create an official website for the first time, take care of mail order, help us take professional photos, and many more things that really help us as a band.

The Mary Pickford Foundation approached Peach Kelli Pop about scoring ‘Wilful Peggy’, a 1910 silent film starring the aforementioned screen legend. How did the opportunity come about, and what was the process like when creating a musical landscape for that particular film?

We were approached about creating a silent movie theme for Wilful Peggy after a show at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles. The work itself was difficult – I was inexperienced at creating a piece of music so long that is constantly changing, yet needs to have a consistent flow. It helped me step outside of my comfort zone and gain an appreciation for Mary Pickford as an actress.

You also composed music for an upcoming Cartoon Network show called ‘Get ‘Em Tommy’. Tonally, I imagine this is completely different. Musically, how did you approach this particular project?

My friend Natalie James and I worked on this together. This project was very natural for us. We were asked to create short themes that would be placed over certain parts of the show. Ie, fight theme, main character theme, sad theme… Victor Cortright, the creator of the show was already familiar with Peach Kelli Pop and was able to give us examples of how he wanted each theme to sound, which was really helpful.

What has Los Angeles meant to the fabric of your music? And why does LA frown on San Diego? We’re not terrible, basically. We have good burritos!

Does LA frown on San Diego? I didn’t realize! PKP loves San Diego and always has fun there. Los Angeles has taught me about taking my music seriously in a career sense. If I’m going to dedicate my time and energy to writing music and touring as well as all the business aspects involved, I should learn how to do it efficiently and how to make a decent living doing it.

You’re about to start a pretty lengthy tour: what is the protocol before hitting the road for that amount of time? What sort of boxes need ticking?

There’s so many little things! Luckily I’ve been on many tours so I know what needs to happen. It’s mainly ordering merch and records from all the labels you work with. Also practicing with your band. I used to do every aspect of Peach Kelli Pop DIY, from silk screening shirts to booking the tours, now I have a booker and Mowgli Surf helping me with shirts and pins, so it’s much more relaxed (and they are better at it than I am).

Peach Kelli Pop knows how to run a pretty legit Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feed. Modernly, in your minds, how has social media affected musicians?

I enjoy social media… A lot of it can be really funny and a good way to show your sense of humor or personality. I think it’s a good way for musicians to connect with fans and also advertise shows, tours, and merch which is really helpful.

You guys recently took some p sweet photos in Crap Eyewear. The real question is why hasn’t Colleen Green opened her own line of sunglasses yet?

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The program director of the Olympia Film Society, Rob is also a former San Diego Film Critics Society member. He has written for The East County Californian, The Alpine Sun, The East County Herald, The San Diego Entertainer, and the San Diego Reader. When he isn't curating a film festival, he is drinking rosé out of a plastic cup in Seattle or getting tattoos from Jenn Champion.